nevertheless every business man who is trying to increase his efficiency and earning power ought to improve every opportunity of getting a grasp of the whole subject. If he engages in the manufacturing business, his knowledge of cost accounts will be a telling advantage. If he is a banker, his understanding of the principles and proper methods of auditing and of accounts in general will promote his interests. In fact, in every field of business the man who understands the science of accounts and can solve its most difficult problems, has a great advantage over one who has merely a knowledge of routine bookkeeping. The four volumes which treat of finance cover both the theoretical and the practical phases of the subject. The volume on "Corporation Finance" describes the sources from which corporations obtain their funds and the methods which they employ. This volume is practical and descriptive and can be understood by a reader who has had no previous training in finance. The volume on "Money and Banking" expounds the fundamental principles underlying all financial operations. "Banking Practice and Foreign Exchange" is especially intended for bankers. The volume on "Investment and Speculation" is designed for the especial benefit of men employed in stock and bond houses. It describes the methods of the stock exchange and explains the transactions and processes of that great financial market known as Wall Street. A student who faithfully masters the contents of these four volumes on finance, even though he were born and bred in the country, would enter Wall Street with a much clearer idea of its possibilities and its dangers than is possessed by many a man who has been employed for years in that great market. The volume on Business Organization describes the methods which have proved most successful in the conduct of modern business, and explains and illustrates the principles underlying the important art of Business Correspondence. The chapters on Transportation" constitute a most scholarly and valuable part of this volume. 66 No book can give a young man complete preparation for any vocation, yet the volumes treating of "Real Estate,' "Insurance," "Salesmanship and Advertising" should prove of great practical help to a young man fitting himself for one of these occupations. The volume on "Commercial Law," primarily designed to keep business men from making unnecessary blunders, should prove especially useful to employés of banking, trust, surety and insurance companies, and to men preparing for the accounting profession. The editor in conclusion desires to say that he has left the authors complete liberty in the expression of opinions and conclusions. Each author is alone responsible for the views he expresses. In matters of opinion or of choice between opposing theories these volumes are not in complete harmony, and no volumes of the sort could be unless they were the product of a single pen. In order that the reader may become familiar with other views, especially those of the Classical School, the editor has inserted in this volume citations from the works of other economists. JOSEPH FRENCH JOHNSON. AUTHOR'S PREFACE In a Democracy a knowledge of economics should be for the many, not the few. The wealth and prosperity of the nation is prerequisite to the wealth and happiness of the people. A high civilization is possible only with an intelligent development of a nation's resources, and a general diffusion of the resulting wealth. Any endeavor, therefore, to put into practical and popular form a knowledge of the production and distribution of wealth is a move in this direction. The book presupposes, no previous knowledge of economics other than that possessed by any intelligent person who reads the daily newspapers and keeps his eyes open. A formal arrangement of the volume into divisions and subdivisions, as well as discussions of economic theory, are conspicuous by their absence. The attempt has rather been to give a description of the business world to-day couched in as few technical terms as possible. The terms "rent" and "interest," for example, are used as they are in the average business man's vocabulary, and not in the more theoretic sense used by many economic writers. The illustrations are taken from conditions found in the everyday business world. Thus, for example, the discussion of an apprentice 'system centers in a description of the system now in operation in the Baldwin Locomotive Works. Pursuant to this same aim, the author has gone rather extensively into the important fields of Money and Credit and Corporate Organization. The concluding chapters of the book deal with problems of to-day. As great as our past development has been and as wonderful as present prosperity is, few thinking men will contend that our civilization is as far advanced as we have a right to demand. Wealth and prosperity are realities, but so also are child labor, unemployment and congestion. These are maladjustments which an intelligent application of social and economic principles can remedy. Then, again, as conditions change and as our industrial institutions grow, new problems must of necessity arise. This is true of all dynamic nations and is the price of progress. If they are to be solved aright, the people must have a true knowledge of their nature. A discussion of these problems in a volume of this kind is not indicative of pessimism but merely of an optimism which is not afraid to look the facts in the face. EDWARD SHERWOOD MEADE. University of Pennsylvania. |